Yarn skein dyeing apparatus



Dec. 13, 1960 L. L. WALMSLEY YARN SKEIN DYEING APPARATUS Filed March 6,1957 United States Patent YARN SKEIN DYEING APPARATUS Leslie L.Walmsley, Swarthmore, Pa., assignor to American Viscose Corporation,Philadelphia, Pa., :1 corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 6, 1957, Ser.No. 644,401

3 Claims. (Cl. 68-206) The present invention primarily relates toprocessing apparatus for use in the liquid treatment of skeins offilamentary yarn or other filamentary material temporarily orpermanently maintained in convolute form.

Liquid dyeing of skeined filament yarn constitutes a large segment ofthe textile industry. There are a number of inherent problems as yet to'be overcome in this field. For instance, it has been found to beextremely difiicult to obtain a level shade dyeing of the filamentswithin the skein because of the necessity of the quick dyeing time usedin these processes in order to meet production schedules. In addition,the equipment or apparatus now in use for eifecting the liquid treatmentof the yarn skeins causes the skeins to become snarled or the filamentsto be drawn or even broken as a result of the cascade of hot dye liquorbeing forced under high pressure through the coiled yarn filaments ofthe skeins. These disadvantages brought about in the dyeing of theskeins cause further trouble in the later winding of the yarns ontospools and bobbins.

With the use of present dyeing equipment, it has been also found thatthe resultant yarn of the skeins has a white specky condition especiallyin the heavy denier yarns when dyed with vat colors. In order toovercome this condition, the dyer must use lengthy and expensiveprocesses which cause further winding problems and increase in costs.

It is therefore one object of my invention to provide a novel andimproved liquid dye processing unit for use in dyeing filament yarnskeins wherein the above disadvantages may be overcome.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved liquiddye processing unit for use with yarn skeins wherein an impermeable ornon-absorbent, flexible type sleeve is used which is positioned over theexterior of the yarn skeins and wherein the inner portions of the yarnskeins remain exposed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved skeincover consisting of an impermeable, flexible sleeve wherein the materialused to form the sleeve has the properties of being resistant to hotmild acids and strong hot alkali solutions as well as inert to dyes andresistant to becoming gummy or sticky as a result of the chemicals usedin the processing operation.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a novel and improvedskein cover consisting of an impermeable, flexible sleeve wherein thesleeve has inward- 'ly tapering skein retaining ends.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved skeincover consisting of an impermeable, flexible skein cover which is madefrom a fusible material.

A final object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved skeincover consisting of an impermeable, flexible skein cover formed of afusible sheet material which is joined at its ends by a fusible seam.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from astudy of the following description and drawing wherein:

Figure '1 is a persepctive of my liquid treating apparatus for theprocessing of yarn skeins; and

Figure 2 is a section taken along lines IIII of Figure 1 and shows theskeins and cover in rest position on the dye tube.

Referring now to the drawing, my skein liquid processing apparatusincludes a container 1 for holding suitable processing liquid or dyeliquor for the yarn skeins. Positioned directly above the container 1 isa perforated tube or dyeing arm 3 which supports a plurality of yarnskeins 5, 5 during the liquid or dyeing treatment.

To support the perforated tube or dyeing arm 3 in position over thecontainer 1 and at the same time to supply liquid from the container tothe perforated tube 3, a supply conduit 7 leads off from one end of theperforated tube and is connected with a suction pump 9 which in turn isconnected by a conduit 11 with the interior of the container 1.

A skein rotating or advancing rod or arm 15 is supported at one end onthe supply conduit 7 at a point adjacent the conduits discharge end, andat its opposite end upon a dummy extension 17 of the perforated tube 3.With this arrangement, the skein advancing arm 15 lies parallel with andextends for the length of the perforated tube 3. To advance the skeins5, 5 around the perforated tube support 3, the rod 15 is rotated aroundthe tube through suitable rotatable mounting 18, 18.

and pulley drive assembly 19. As desired, the rod may be intermittentlyrotated or rotated in a continuous manner.

As further seen in the drawing, there is provided a sleeve 22 which fitsover the yarn skeins 5, 5. The sleeve 22 has inwardly tapering ends offlanges 24 which retain the skeins in place within the sleeve. Thesleeve 22 is preferably formed of an impermeable, flexible material of athermoplastic or fusible nature in the form of plastic film or sheetmaterial. The plastic sheet material may be transparent whereby theskeins may be observed by the operator. Regardless of the type ofimpermeable, flexible material used, this material must be resistant tohot mild acids and strong hot alkali solutions maintained attemperatures up to 212 F. The material is inert to dyes or any coloringmatter used to dye fabrics or yarns as processed by the cascade dyeingapparatus described above. In addition, the material must not becomesticky or gummy as a result of processing characteristics or of thechemicals used. If these limitations as to the material used areobserved, the skein cover should have a useful life of several months inconditioned use. Some materials which can be used satisfactorily forforming the skein cover are natural and synthetic rubbers, Saran typecopolymers or tetpolyrners (polyvinylidene chloride) with or withoutacrylonitrile, alkyl methacrylates such as methyl methacrylate,polystyrene, etc. Certain types of polyethylene films may also be used.These are some of the materials which can be used to form the skeincover.

As mentioned above, it is desirable, but not necessary, that the coverbe made of a fusible material so that a heat fused seam 26 may be usedto join the ends of the sheet material together to form a permanentnon-leaking bond. Other types of seams such as sewn seams (if desired orrequired because of particular cover material used) may be used to jointhe ends of the sheet. If desired, the cover may be extruded orotherwise formed in one piece, thus eliminating the necessity of forminga seam.

The cover for the skeins should extend approximately four inches beyond(below) the yarn skeins in their suspended condition and the widthshould be such that it extends approximately the length of the dyeingarm 3.

In operation, the yarn skeins 5, 5 are first positioned over theperforated tube 3 and the skein advancing or rotating arm 15. Theimpermeable sleeve 22 is then posi-' tioned over the yarn skeins makingcertain that the end skeins are tucked in behind the tapered endportions 24 of the sleeve 22. After the desired dye liquor has beenplaced within the container :1, the suction pump 9 is put into operationthereby drawing liquid from the container and pumping it through thesupply conduit 7 and into the perforated tube 3. From this point, thedye liquor passes through the perforations of the tube 3 under greatpressure (64 gallons of dye liquor per minute) and strikes the filamentsof the yarn skein in the form of strong jets. As the dye is applied tothe yarn skeins 5, 5 in this manner, the skein advancing arm 15 isrotated either intermittently or continuously to move the skeins and theskein cover away from and around the perforated dye tube 3. The skeinsare advanced in this manner until all portions of the yarn filamentshave been exposed to the treating dye liquor.

One of the advantages which is prominent with the use of my new andnovel skein cover is that a back pressure is set up with the dye liquoras it strikes the impermeable skein cover. This back pressure forces thedye liquor back through the coiled filaments of the skeins to providethorough penetration of the yarn with the dye liquor within a minimumtime. Since a back pressure is set up as described above, the yarnfilaments are forced away from the cover as the dye liquor reboundstherefrom whereby the coiled filaments literally float through the dyeliquor being partially spaced from the cover. This back pressure againstthe issuing dye spray also equalizes the volume of flow of the dyethroughout the length of the dyeing arm and thus induces more leveldyeing.

Since the cover is impermeable, the liquor can escape therefrom only atthe ends of the sleeve. With this arrangement, a definite amount of dyeliquor is retained within the sleeve at the bottom portion thereof tofurther assure adequate dye liquor for the coiled filaments as theskeins and cover are rotated about the dye tube 3.

A very important advantage of my invention is that the cost of skeindyeing is substantially reduced. The high cost of the chemicals used inskein dyeing constitutes a major part of the total cost for skeindyeing. Since the dyeing liquid is retained within my impermeable coverability of the coiled filaments onto spindles and spools is provided.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed herein, it is to be understood that changes and variations maybe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Yarn skein dyeing apparatus comprising a generally horizontallyarranged pipe having perforations through which a dye liquor is forcedunder pressure sojas to penetrate yarn skeins loosely looped thereabout,a flexible impervious tubular member looped about the pipe and adaptedto cover the skeins with the skeins entirely between said pipe and saidmember, and said tubular member having inwardly directed flanges at theends which form a basin at the bottom of the loop in which a pool of dyeliquor is retained.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said cover is formed oftransparent plastic material.

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein cover is formed of rubber.

said

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,739,458 Hazeley et al. Dec. 10, 1929 1,887,626 Elssner Nov. 15, 19321,939,817 Hornbuckle Dec. 19, 1933 2,043,870 Webber June 9, 19362,053,985 Collins et al. Sept; 8, 1936 2,076,429 Guinan Apr. 6, 19372,200,197 Allen May 7, 1940 2,562,199 McLellan et al. July 31, 19512,606,358 Purness -2 Aug. 12, 1952 2,701,957 Newcomb Feb. 15, 19:55FOREIGN PATENTS 175,574 Germany Oct. 3, 1906

